The Effectiveness of Virtual Public Hearings in the Legislative Process

Abstract

During Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the state of disaster nationwide lockdown that was in place in South Africa (SA) between 26 March 2020 and 4 April 2022, the President, on 21 April 2020, announced the “social relief and economic support of R500 billion to mitigate the social and economic devastation caused by the pandemic” Ramaphosa (2020:2). The announcement by President Ramaphosa, COVID-19 environment and the constitutional requirements brought a dilemma to the legislatures in the country regarding ensuring public participation and involvement in the legislative and decision- making processes, Furthermore the announcement necessitated amending the Division of Revenue Act, 2020 to effect the changes. The Minister of Finance introduced the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill in terms of s214 of the Constitution. National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and legislatures in the country had to solicit public inputs and views on the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill [B9- 2020], notwithstanding nationwide lockdown. Parliament and Legislatures made determinations to use virtual mechanism to conduct public hearings. DORA is a money bill which appropriates money in terms of s77 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. The Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, provides procedures and standards for amending such a Bill before Parliament and provincial legislature. Act 9 of 2009 (RSA) The study was conducted to investigate the extent to which the use of virtual platform contributed to ensuring that the stakeholders and public are involved in legislative processes, specifical the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill processes. Furthermore, to explore possibilities of using virtual means to solicit inputs and views from interested parties and public at large in legislative processes post COVID-19 period. The researcher decided to use qualitative research methods, wherein semi-structured in-depth interviews, literature review and internal documents analysis to collect data were applied. The data analysis and research findings have revealed that the virtual public hearings have been effective in ensuring that the participants, stakeholders, and members of the public are able to make input in the legislative processes. iii Some participants in the interviews have raised concerns regarding public opinion or input not being considered in the final Bill. What give rise to the perception is that the committee does not come back to do a post public hearing to give feedback on the Bill, according to another participant. The data and findings further point to the need to institutionalize virtual meetings and public hearings in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu Natal Provincial Legislatures.